OG & AMKAL Triumph in Upsets at BLAST Fall Showdown 2024

With 16  Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) teams at the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024 competing for only two spots in the Fall Final, there's a lot on the line, and the pressure can get to some teams while others thrive.

On the first day of the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown, we saw FaZe Clan efficiently despatch Rare Atom with a clean 2-0, and then two upsets occurred in a row, leaving my mouth hanging open.

First off, OG (ranked 48th) took out HEROIC (ranked 15th) with a 2-0 sweep, winning 13-10 on Anubis and 13-11 on Nuke. OG's Romanian Mădălin-Andrei "MoDo" Mirea topped the scoreboard and pulled off some fantastic plays, such as four dualies kills to open up Nuke in style.

If you thought that was enough of an upset for the first day of BLAST Fall Showdown 2024, you would be wrong.

AMKAL Esports, ranked 53rd, took on Swedish side NIP (ranked 18th), and we couldn't believe our eyes. On AMKAL's map pick of Inferno, they got off to a flying start on the T side and put immense pressure on NIP. One of my favorite highlights was AMKAL's lurker and IGL, Vladislav "Krad" Kravchenko, clicking heads for an Ace in the final round of the first half. 

NIP couldn't recover on Inferno as AMKAL closed out the map 13-3. NIP did, however, recover on their map pick of Ancient after a potent T side in the first half of play. Ancient ended 13-3, leaving us with a third and deciding map, Vertigo...

In the first half of Vertigo, NIP pulled ahead slightly, but AMKAL responded in kind, resulting in a 12-12 score, with overtime required to separate the sides.

My favorite was four kills from Russian rifler Igor "Forester" Bezotecheskiy to earn AMKAL a solid 14-12 lead in the first overtime.

Despite NIP pushing back and forcing double overtime, they couldn't close out Vertigo, as AMKAL emerged victorious with a 19-17 score, ending the series 2-1 and eliminating NIP from the BLAST Premier Fall Showdown 2024.

Congratulations to OG and AMKAL for pulling off upsets. It's anyone's game at this point, and with just two spots at the BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 on the line, there's everything to fight for.

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